How to Throw a Protest

The Reseau de Resistance is planning to mark Prince Charle's visit to Quebec with a protest in front of the Black Watch Regiment headquarters on Bleury Street in Montreal.

It's amazing how things have changed since the old days. Today every thing is organized through Facebook.

You can visit the official protest page here, where you will find all pertinent information, including a manifesto, an invitation, a link to google maps complete with Streetview and of course, the most important element. The guest list.

You can scan the names of those who've accepted to attend and those who are considering the idea.

Very convenient for the police I'd imagine who are likely giving this event close scrutiny.

Are Quebeckers More Dishonest?

There is a majority opinion in the Western part of the country that Quebec is the most dishonest province in the country.
The latest scandals don't help dispel these type of opinions. Last week's Macleans magazine article that bashed Montreal was well deserved, but according to me, there are other places more dishonest.

Crime statistics for Quebec are decidedly lower than in the rest of the country and when it comes to violent crime, murder and drunk driving, Quebec ranks at the bottom of the list (that's good.)

But when it comes to collusion in government contracts, nobody beats Quebec. It probably comes from the very complacent attitude that Quebeckers have about graft.

Tell me, if your neighbour was out doing yard work while boasting that he was collecting disability from the government, would you rat him out?
If your brother-in-law was collecting UI while vacationing in Florida, would you denounce him?

Not many Quebeckers would. It's a nature.
People in priggish places like Ottawa would jump at the chance to sell out a cheater. It's also nature.

Quebeckers have a soft spot for larceny, but recent revelations about construction industry fixing contracts have crossed the line and Quebeckers are now furious.

Here's a video, of an extract of a show called Les Bougon. It ran for two years on Radio-Canada and detailed the life of a thieving welfare family. Quite hilarious if you are are a Quebecker, infuriating if you live west of the Ottawa river.
Francophone are well aware of the show and have enjoyed the show or hated it. Not many Anglophones watch French TV and it's too bad, there's a wealth of great shows to enjoy. The problem is the vernacular, which is very hard for a non-native speaker to pick up on.

It took me over an hour to subtitle, so please watch it!!
If you're aren't seeing the captions, click on the little pyramid in the bottom right-hand corner.

So what's the truth? Did it make you laugh or scream??

Faulty Poll Leads to Faulty Prediction

When one makes a prediction which falls flat on it's face, it's incumbent on the predictor to own up to his mistake and explain it if he can. I shall endeavour to do so now and tell you how I reached the faulty conclusion that I did concerning my prediction that Richard Bergeron would win the race for the Montreal mayoralty.

As we all know there were many unexpected events that shook both the Harel and Tremblay camps over the course of the election. It seemed that Richard Bergeron, the kooky third place candidate was emerging from also-ran status to a legitimate contender.

He had been running at between 10% and 15% popularity at the beginning of the campaign when things seemed to catch fire and with two weeks to go in the campaign his popularity shot up to 25% with the mayor and Madame Harel neck and neck in the low 30%'s.

Days before the election Angus-Reid published a poll in Montreal's La Presse newspaper indicating that Bergeron had made a stunning breakthrough.
In one short week, he had pushed his numbers to 32% and trailed Louise Harel (34%) by just 2%. Tremblay was behind both candidates at 30% and seemed to be sinking fast.

Based on these polling numbers, it was easy to see that an unstoppable momentum was building for Bergeron and should the trend have continued over the last weekend, it was likey that he'd cruise to victory.

But he didn't, so what happened?

Very simply, one of the world's leading research agencies had completely blown the last poll published in La Presse on the eve of the election.

Every polling organization tells you that their polls are accurate to 4% (the margin of error) 19 out of 20 times

WELCOME TO THE TWENTIETH TIME.

Tremblay
Actual Vote 38%            Angus Reid 30%            Difference 8%

Harel
Actual Vote 32%            Angus Reid 34%            Difference 2%

Bergeron
Actual Vote 25%            Angus Reid 32%           Difference 7%

The errors in the  numbers for Mr. Tremblay and Mr Bergeron are massive and in the polling business represent a humiliating failure.

Perhaps I should have been suspicious of a poll that showed such a monumental shift in opinion over such a short time, but Quebec voters have shown historically that they can jump on a bandwagon quickly. However I take responsibility for making a faulty judgment.

By the way, there's no comment from Angus-Reid or La Presse about the poll. In fact both organizations have purged any reference to the poll from their web sites. It's as if it never existed according to them. The only place I could get confirmation of their numbers were on sites that quoted them as in Branchez-vous. It's as if both organizations are determined to cover up the fiasco.
If you don't believe me, check out both the La Presse site and the Angus Reid site and do you own search.
Poof, the poll has disappeared.

Owning up to mistakes is an important step in reporting. I'm doing so today.

While La Presse rails on and on about the honesty of the Tremblay administration, perhaps they should take their own advice and come clean about the botched poll.

What dishonesty! Shame on La Presse and Angus Reid.

Health Update-- My Swine Flu experience

I am over the worst!

My fever has broken and I am on the path to recovery. I am not yet back to normal and am still suffering from a variety of ailments including stiffness, lethargy and headaches.

It is as the health officials promised - a couple of bad days and then recovery.

What they never mentioned is how terrible those couple of days are.

Do yourself a favour, run don't walk. Get the shot.

Incidentally, minutes after posting yesterday's piece of my Swine flu predicament, my blog was flooded by automated bots posting to the comments section, hawking all sorts of phony H1N1 remedies.
I removed them all, but sheesh, is there no decency out there?

AHHHHHHH!!!!! I have Swine Flu!!!

After a weekend of celebrating that included attending a large family function at a downtown supper club, it was back to work Monday.

Everything was normal until I stopped to pump some gas at a Decarie Boulevard Shell station. I hadn't felt great that morning, but chalked it up to a hangover.

Having just completed the transaction, I returned to my car when I was slammed by a wave of nausea that literally knocked me down.

I started heaving and ran over to a patch of grass off to the side where I promptly puked my guts out. I sat in the drivers seat with the door open trying to regain my bearings, but the world was spinning badly. I threw up again, and again.

After a few minutes, I regained enough composure to turn my car around and go home, where a fever started to build until it hit 104° later that evening.

There was no doubt- I had contracted the dreaded H1N1 disease. WTF!!!!!

Like every other idiot, I assumed that Swine flu is what happens to someone else.

A couple of days in bed is what authorities told us to expect, but what they didn't warn us is how incredibly painful it is.

As I write this, my temperature is down to 101°, and stable but showing no sign of abating. While the worst is over, I'm shocked by how bad the ordeal of Swine flu is.

Monday night was pure Hell as I lay in bed suffering from fever induced hallucinations that made a bad LSD trip feel like a cakewalk.
Three day after getting sick, things are getting better but my condition remains ten times worse than any regular flu. The unremitting fever is the hardest part to deal with.

For most people, H1N1 it may not be life threatening, but it is terribly painful and debilitating.

If you're considering skipping the vaccine based on the fact that H1N1 is not that dangerous, think again.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

I've taken these few minutes of lucidity to cast a warning, but alas, as my head starts to spin again, I'm off to bed. I hope this nightmare is over soon!...

I shall post the rest of the week with stuff I previously prepared...